Pushing a crane

It’s quite common for a really heavy load to have one or more push trucks behind it to push when going up inclines. Push trucks are commonly used on the Dalton Highway as well as the Parks and Richardson when the loads are outrageously heavy, otherwise it would take a very long time and so much fuel for the truck with the load to get up a mountain, and it would also impede traffic for long periods of time. The push trucks just follow the load when not going up hills.

Taken 11 years ago, these photos really show how close Jack’s push truck gets to the load he’s pushing (a crane). You can see the pad that the push bar pushes against, how the trucks make contact.

These beasts will pull anything, They have a GTW of 175,000kg (385,000Ib) and with the right tyres will drive on the Dalton without chains easily. Designed for military use originally they are now sold for Europes Heavy Haulage contractors where they are used to move specialist loads, such as Locomotives, ship sections, parts for the Oil industry and a host of other loads. I saw two recently on the M4, one with a Liebherr LTM 1120-9.1 crane…which is a beast all by itself having a road weight of 102,000kg (224,400Ib)..and one with the counterweight that weighs in at some 146,000kg (321,200Ib). Both had their escorts with and cruising along at about 50mph without a problem….Serious heavy haulage…